Vehicles with inflatable tires such as passenger cars, light and heavy duty trucks, tractor trailers, buses, commercial delivery vehicles, among other motorized forms of transportation and trailers pulled by such vehicles are conventionally equipped with spare tires. Some spare tires are stored under the vehicle using a tire carrier that includes a tire winch for raising and lowering the spare tire between a raised or stored position and a lowered or accessed position. The winch typically raises and lowers the spare tire using a flexible elongate member such as a cable or cord, which is wound and unwound on a spool or reel.
During a crash, lateral forces may expose the cable to a 90° bend or more, which may cause the cable to undergo shear failure. The load required to cause failure of a cable under a shear load is significantly less than that under a tensile load, and harder to predict as compared to the tensile load. It would be desirable to provide a protective assembly that would prevent the cable from encountering sharp bends and failing under a shear load.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a protective assembly for a tire carrier that reduces or overcomes some or all of the difficulties inherent in prior known devices. Particular objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that is, those who are knowledgeable or experienced in this field of technology, in view of the following disclosure of the invention and detailed description of certain preferred embodiments.